Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

28 reviews

cheshiredownunder's review

I wasn’t a fan of a lot of the content in the book. It was too gory for my taste and it just made me uncomfortable to read it. How graphic the book gets at times is way out of my comfort zone and while I was recommended this book, it went past a lot of my hard “no’s” for media I want to consume. It really effected my mental health and I just absolutely was not a fan. This book is great for what it is but it’s not the book for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Outing, Sexism, Transphobia, Abandonment, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Eating disorder, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Hate crime, Violence, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gore, Death, Misogyny, and Gun violence

baronvonfancy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Easily one of the best books I've ever read. It's challenging and cuts deep. I'd highly recommend this book! It is quite gory and touches on heavy themes. Read the content warning at the beginning of the book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cursing, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Gore, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Outing, Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Violence, and Homophobia

foiblesandfiction's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I've been sitting on this review for a couple of weeks because I'm just not sure how I feel about the book.

I loved it.  I also didn't necessarily like it.  And maybe those are two different things, just like we are able to love people without liking them, which makes sense for me because my mind tends to personify all books.  Books have feelings, too.

This story sank it's teeth right into my religious trauma, and the resonating ache from that is why I love this story so.  The character names, the Bible verses, the rules and judgements and negative self-talk.  I felt, I feel, all of that.  It's all very twisty and knotted up in my chest so I won't be able to say very much more than that, to be honest.  Too raw, too messy. 

Forget about the body horror, my issue was the Christians lol

Sorry Christians!  Kind of.

Why I disconnected from this story was due to the writing itself.  It's gorgeous and it's also a lot.  It doesn't read like the first-person point of view of a sixteen year old kid.  Unfortunately, this kept taking me out of the story.

Recommended for fans of Ava Reid.  If, like me, you found yourself highlighting entire paragraphs of The Wolf and the Woodsman, or disturbingly delighted at the cannibalistic horror of Juniper & Thorn, you'll find something to enjoy in this young adult horror novel as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, Outing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Biphobia, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Racism, Child abuse, Confinement, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Misogyny

valpal77's review

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Torture, Outing, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Excrement, Violence, Misogyny, Homophobia, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Blood, Child abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Death of parent, War, Vomit, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Emotional abuse

fuguefire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book was a fantastic story about a trans boy who is being turned into a monster by those he loved, and who is fighting tooth-and-nail to become something different. If you have been looking for queer horror, you have found it. I think that this book serves as a really good allegory for the consequences of evangelistic christianity on LGBTQ+ people.

The primary aspect of this theme is the main character Benji himself of course. Seraph, the mutation Benji has been infected with, is literally devouring his body from the inside out, causing him to vomit organs and his skin to fall off in sheets. This is a graphic portrayal of the body dysmorphia that trans teens feel every day: the betrayal of one's own body transforming into something grotesque, and being helpless to stop it. Even worse: knowing that if your family really loved you the way they should, then things would have been different. Indeed, the real horror that seems to plague Benji throughout this book was NOT his profane metamorphosis, but the knowledge that none of it- the death of billions, the murder of his father, the hatred of his identity- had to happen at all. If the church had simply accepted the world the way it was, the world would still be standing, and perhaps Benji would become the man he knows he should have been. 
The second part of this theme is displayed by Nick, leader of the ALC, and once a member of the Angels. throughout the book, we see Nick's mistrust of Benji, and with good reason. There was a really good moment where benji confronts Nick about using the pronoun "it" in stead of "he" and I think it was a really good example of how trans (and minority) characters cannot be written like they exist in a vacuum, and also the ways that people even inside the queer community can still level violence at one another. Of course, at the end of this intense scene, half of benji's face falls off, and suddenly the audience is reminded that this whole conflict over pronouns might not be happening if not for christian extremism in the first place. Perhaps there is a world where Benji and Nick would happily be friends, celebrating their queerness in a loving community. But that world is not theirs anymore.
Finally, I think that Nick's fate in this story is worth noting. Nick, leader of the ALC, whom nobody expected had any ties to the Angels, still gets partially transformed by the latent virus that he was inoculated with as a kid. This is a perfect metaphor for the life-long consequences of being exposed to religious abuse. Even years after you've escaped their influence, and after spending your whole life dedicated to righting their wrongs, a trace of it is always there with you, waiting to bare its teeth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Murder, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Homophobia, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Gore, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Death, Body horror, Blood, and Body shaming

Moderate: Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Mental illness, Outing, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Medical content, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, War, and Misogyny

macabrebookwitch's review

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, War, Blood, Body horror, Deadnaming, Genocide, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

eddiehits's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Outing, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Sexual assault, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, Murder, Mental illness, Abandonment, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Torture, Acephobia/Arophobia, Biphobia, Violence, and War

corpseparty's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I really wanted this to be a 5 star but it reads almost like a fanfiction to me. Benji is an overpowered character imo and the others weren’t as developed. Im a nonbinary person, but even during the apocalypse, there’s a lot of lgbt discourse and identity politics. Lore doesn’t always come together in the end, but it was overall an exciting read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Colonisation, Transphobia, Death, Vomit, Body horror, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, War, Child death, Classism, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Outing